CNR smorgasbord

A selection of items gleaned from the CNR website. The first concerns some of the long lived gymnosperms I mentioned today.

From an article in the SF Chronicle last week entitled Performing high-altitude research on global warming:

The famous bristlecones have endured countless challenges over the millennia, yet always seem to muster one more burst of life when spring warms the rocky dolomitic soil. Growing seasons may expand and shrink, but the trees carry on, their growth rings faithfully recording the bad years alongside the good.

From the CNR Breakthroughs magazine is a nice description of an ambitious program to catalogue the DNA of all the species on an entire island - the South Pacific island of Moorea, home to UC Berkeley's Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research station.

Also in the magazine is an article about the Exploring California Biodiversity program which sends Berkeley graduate students to teach in four Bay Area schools. I mention it here because they also involve undergraduates in the program. If you think you might be interested in teaching, or just want to gain some practical experience it is a tremendous opportunity. Check out their website and contact Betsy Mitchell if you are interested (it may be too late for the coming year, but it never hurts to ask).